ELECTRON EMITTING ELEMENT, ELECTRON SOURCE, AND IMAGE FORMING DEVICE

摘要

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an excellent electron emission characteristic and a long life by covering at least a part of one of the conductive films arranged across an electron emission section with a metal layer partially covered with an oxide layer. SOLUTION: This surface conduction type electron emitting element is constituted of a pair of opposite element electrodes 2, 3 formed on a substrate 1 and conductive films 4 forming a part of an electron emission section 5. The surface conduction type electron emitting element is covered with a metal layer 6 on at least a part of the conductive films 4 arranged across the electron emission section 5, and at least a part of the metal layer 6 is covered with an oxide layer 7. Since these layers are thus arranged, the asymmetric property of the operating characteristic is secured, and the half-selection current can be reduced when a matrix is driven.